It’s October, which is the perfect time to check out scary stuff no matter what the medium. Which is why I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to check out The Denim Devil #1 – and I’m very glad I did.

The town of Vanglerton was once under the thumb of the Vangler family, thanks to their once-thriving – but now crumbling – denim manufacturing business. Now, however, a gruesome murder may well spell ruin for their empire once and for all – thanks to the killing being tied to their CEO. In the midst of this is The Denim Devil, who seems to want to be the next Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees – but his hapless attempts at grisly kills just seem to end in near-slapstick disaster.

To say that this comic subverted my expectations is an understatement; we all know that sex – and even overt sexuality – equals death in the weirdly conservative, slasher movie rulebook. So when the sex and masturbation – followed by a creepy, masked stalker – kicked off this issue (after a short, shocking prologue), I was entertained enough by its adherence to formula, but pleasantly surprised and amused when things took a very different turn than I expected.

Not only that, but it takes a genuinely funny detour too, with moments of physical comedy that are incredibly hard to pull off in a comic, but are beautifully and hilariously executed (pardon the pun there).

The murder mystery at the heart of the story – as well as the seedy, mysterious and grim goings-on with the Vangler family – is genuinely compelling; the issue ends with a great cliffhanger and it pleases me to say that it’s far from the formulaic slasher movie homage that I was expecting.

Writer Zach Carter and artist Jared Yanez have crafted a superb opening chapter here, with some genuinely hilarious dialogue and brilliant art that covers plenty of bases – funny, sexy, gory and even the kind of creepy visuals that really get under your skin.

It may not be for the faint of heart, but the blackly comic, explicit and gory charm of The Denim Devil is definitely worth checking out, as long as you have a strong enough stomach for it.

There are numerous ways to purchase The Denim Devil #1 – either digitally or in very limited physical form – check out the comic’s website here: thedenimdevil.com. Many thanks to writer Zach Carter for providing me with a copy of The Denim Devil #1 for review purposes.